A fine revenge western by Budd Boetticher with Ben Stride (Randolph Scott), the ex-Sheriff of Silver Springs, in pursuit of the seven men who shot dead his wife in a robbery and escaped with $20,000. With five men left to kill, Stride finds himself chaperoning through dangerous Indian country an inexperienced young married couple from the East, John and Annie Greer (Walter Reed and Gail Russell). Two more join the group, Bill Masters (Lee Marvin), a gunslinger with a venal interest in the outcome of Scott's quest and an eye for the ladies, and his sidekick Clete (Donald Berry).
Produced by John Ford's protégés, John Wayne and Andrew V. McLaglen, the film is admirably short, only 78 minutes, and the script is lean without seeming rushed, with believable characters, suspenseful action sequences, and some beautiful location photography (the story was set in Arizona, I read on Wikipedia, but was filmed in California).
As in Anthony Mann's Winchester 73 (1950), there is an interesting sub-text examining frontier-style attributes of masculinity, bravery in the face of danger and prowess in violent confrontations, and whether or not such attributes are pre-requisites for a woman's love. As in Mann's film, we are presented with a beautiful woman married to a man clearly unfamiliar with guns and of questionable personal courage. Marvin's character actually spells out the moot question: In a world where men's worth is measured by their courage, can a woman really love "half a man"? A facility with words is not a valued attribute, with the husband's garrulousness contrasting strongly with Scott's laconicism.
Scott is highly credible as the ram-rod straight ex-Sheriff, implacably pursuing vigilante vengeance against his wife's killers while simultaneously in every other interaction appearing a person of strict moral character. Marvin creates a colourful swaggering but believable and at times almost sympathetic villain, not without intelligence or courage, driven by desire for things and people he does not possess. Russell is persuasive as a faithful married woman who finds herself attracted to another man.
- Rating: Full price
- When seen: 20 Mar 2011
- Where seen: Home
- More information: IMDB | RottenTomatoes | Wikipedia
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Amendments: Removed link to Wikipedia-sourced image. Added ranking image.
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